What is the spiritual meaning of the Yom Kippur customs and how do they awaken us to scrutinize our internal desires and intentions in our attitude to others, to connection, and to true love?

Almost everyone goes to the synagogue on Yom Kippur. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, Yom Kippur is a very special state in the cycle of the year for a person who develops spiritually.

We are used to examining our actions, but we should also examine our intentions, especially with regard to others: Where do I stand with regard to the upper force whose nature is love and bestowal? The examination, just like an X-ray of the intention of the heart, is done by the Light that comes from studying Kabbalah.

The Ten Days of Penitence are ten X-rays of the heart, which show where I am for my own sake and where I am for the sake of others.

The Torah requires a person to correct his heart. Nature, God, examines only the intention in the heart. The fasting symbolizes the need to first stop receiving for only my own sake, restriction. Then we can bestow. We learn from the story of the prophet Jonah that we have to put ourselves aside and act for the sake of others. A person cannot turn to the Creator if there are people he has hurt in the world.

True reconciliation with others is not that they should forgive you, but that you should build in your heart whole love for them.[144815]From KabTV’s “New Life #438 – Yom Kippur,” 9/30/14